Most fantasy RPGs give you a spellbook, a wand, or some ancient magical artifact to help you survive. Roguefort would rather you learn how to make cheese, and not just any cheese either. We’re talking about the kind that can blind your enemies, heal your wounds, and potentially turn an ordinary dairy farmer into someone nobody particularly wants to upset.
Launching into Steam Early Access today, October 13, Roguefort is an open-world, turn-based roguelike RPG from solo developer Timothy Graham. It combines dungeon crawling, farming, settlement building, and a surprisingly elaborate cheese-based magic system inside a living fantasy world where five powerful Guilds are preparing for war.
There’s quite a lot to keep you occupied before you even think about picking a side.
Say Cheese, Then Watch Your Enemies Suffer
Magic in Roguefort isn’t something you simply learn from a dusty old book. You’re an affineur, a specialist in cheesemaking, and your magical abilities depend on the ingredients you collect and what you do with them.
You’ll raise livestock, forage for ingredients, and experiment with recipes to create cheeses with different magical properties. A smoked gouda can produce a fog that blinds enemies, while a sunberry tomme can restore your health when things get particularly unpleasant.
Where you gather those ingredients matters, too. The game’s magic system is influenced by terroir, the idea that the environment shapes what you produce. Different locations can therefore affect your magical creations, giving you reasons to explore beyond simply finding another dungeon to loot.
Of course, if spending your afternoon making enchanted dairy products doesn’t appeal to you, there’s nothing stopping you from grabbing a two-handed sword and dealing with your problems the old-fashioned way.
Five Guilds, One Continent, and Plenty of Trouble
The adventure takes place across Cantal, a handcrafted continent caught between five competing Guilds that are edging toward war. You’ll explore settlements, venture into dungeons, develop your character through Guild disciplines and perks, and make decisions that influence your journey. However, there’s no requirement to spend every waking moment fighting monsters.
You can establish a homestead, grow crops, go fishing, tame and ride animals, or take to the water in a boat. Up to four players can also explore together through online co-op, making it possible to share the adventure with friends.
There’s a separate mode called The Crossing, too, which generates a new continent for each run rather than using Cantal’s handcrafted world.
For anyone who’d rather manage an entire community than spend their time wandering around collecting magical cheese ingredients, there’s another substantial part of the game waiting.
You Can Build Your Own Little Kingdom
Fortress mode lets you establish a settlement and manage the people living there, complete with farms, workshops, and the industries needed to keep everything running. It’s a different approach to the same world, shifting your attention from one adventurer’s survival to the needs of an entire community.
Roguefort also has an unusual visual trick. Its custom Opthalis Engine supports four different presentation styles including traditional ASCII, pixel art, 2.5D isometric graphics, and first-person 3D.
That means you can experience the same game as an old-school text-based roguelike or explore its world from a completely different perspective.
Roguefort Begins Its Early Access Adventure Today
Roguefort launches into Steam Early Access today with Adventure Mode, The Crossing, Fortress mode, four visual styles, and four-player co-op already included. Graham expects Early Access to last around 12 months, with plans to expand Cantal, develop the Guild storyline, introduce more dungeons, and deepen the settlement-building systems.
The game draws inspiration from Caves of Qud, Dwarf Fortress, and Rift Wizard, and its rather ambitious collection of systems has been developed with feedback from an active community of playtesters.
Whether you want to explore dangerous dungeons, establish a thriving settlement, or become the most feared cheesemaker on the continent, Roguefort seems determined to give you plenty of options. Just don’t underestimate the gouda.